Bus driver a 'hero' as crane brings down live power lines on packed TTC bus

Passengers escape from TTC bus after crane topples over next to vehicle destroying live power lines

A quick-thinking TTC driver drew praise for keeping 29 passengers safely on her bus Monday after a crane collapsed on Kipling Avenue, trapping the vehicle under a fallen hydro pole and surrounding it with live electrical wires.

Toronto Hydro worked for an hour and a half to secure the scene and make it safe for passengers to exit.

“It’s amazing that no one was injured,” said Councillor Doug Ford, who represents the area. “The TTC always gets criticized when they do something wrong and this is a lady who kept everyone calm and collected until it was safe to get off the bus.”

The crane, which was working on the expansion of the Kipling Acres Retirement Home, collapsed in the mid-afternoon, sending at least six hydro poles crashing down between Hinton Road and Rex Gate on Kipling Avenue. Police said the cause of the collapse remains unknown, but the Ministry of Labour will be investigating.

Almost 500 residences remained without power as of Monday evening and could remain so until Tuesday morning, according to Tanya Bruckmueller, spokeswoman for Toronto Hydro. “It’s unfortunate and we are doing our best, but the site is under police and Ministry of Labour control right now and we’ll do our best to get it cleaned up and customers’ power restored,” she said. “Please be patient with us and stay away from any down wires,” she said.

Toronto Hydro had to ensure that power was completely cut from the wires around the bus before the passengers could exit safely.

“We had to isolate the power source, make sure it was turned off and then test it before we could ensure it was safe,” Ms. Bruckmueller said.

The 30-year-old operator of the crane sustained minor injuries that required he go to hospital, but Detective Rich Petrie of Toronto police said he was expected to be released by Monday evening.

“Everyone [on the bus] was examined by paramedics and there were no injuries,” he said. “Luckily, considering this is a retirement home, usually there is a lot of people and pedestrian traffic, but when I got here the only vehicle in traffic was the bus.”

As of now, it is unclear who will pay for the damages from the accident. Buttcon Ltd. manages the construction of the expansion of the retirement home into a three-storey, 192-resident long-term-care home. The city of Toronto owns and operates the home.

“We will have to figure out what the cause was. The crane is rented by a company who is under contract by the general contractor — who is responsible we will have to find out,” Det. Petrie said. “There’s probably ­going to be lawsuits.”